Christine Baranski’s Connection to Late Husband Through The Gilded Age

Christine Baranski first laid eyes on her “extraordinary” husband, Matthew Cowles, in 1982. The pair were co-starring in a theatre production of Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts when they met during rehearsals. “He was eccentric but so warmhearted,” the actress recalled.

Matthew, sporting “shaggy blond hair” and a “leather motorcycle jacket,” gave Christine a ride home on his motorcycle one night, and the rest was history. They tied the knot in 1983 and welcomed two daughters, Lily and Isabel, whom they raised in Connecticut before moving to Manhattan.

Happily married for three decades, Christine became a “caretaker” to Matthew in their final years together. Sadly, Matthew passed away from congestive heart failure in May 2014 at the age of 69.

Christine has spoken openly about her grief, telling Parade: “The death of a loved one is not only deeply sad but also very disorienting. When you’ve had a 30-year marriage and sat across from this person every morning having coffee, it’s so strange. Someone is there and then suddenly they’re not there to talk to ever again.”

In the years since her husband’s passing, Christine has continued to work on hugely successful shows, including The Good Fight, The Big Bang Theory, and more recently, The Gilded Age.

Set to return as Agnes van Rhijn in season three of the hit period drama, her role on the show came after a conversation with series creator, Julian Fellowes.

In an interview with Deadline, Christine, 72, explained that she had approached Julian after hearing whispers that he was looking to create an American version of Downton Abbey.

“After one of my many Emmy losses, at an HBO party, he was sitting there and I approached him. And I spoke to him about it, and I said, ‘I’m married to a man, my late husband, was a Drexel from the Drexel family, and that was, of course, one of the New York aristocratic Gilded Age families.’ I began talking to him about it, and we had the longest conversation.”

“All those years later I get a call saying, ‘Julian has written this show for HBO, and they’re offering you this.’ I was the first person to be offered a role,” she continued.

For Christine, The Gilded Age presents a unique tie to Matthew, whose great-grandfather Joseph Drexel founded Drexel Banking’s New York Branch with JP Morgan. His grandmother, Elizabeth Drexel Lehr, was a well-known author, philanthropist, and Manhattan socialite.

During season two, the Drexel family even appears, with Julian introducing them to viewers in episode 10 at a grand ball. Christine herself has done some digging into her husband’s ancestry.

“I was, of course, immersing myself in research on the Gilded Age. And I realized more deeply how connected my late husband’s family had been,” Christine remarked in 2022. “If you want to look any of these people up, you will be drawn into a rabbit hole of interest.”